*rumble* hehe

J76 Sunday, June 3rd 2007

Wee earthquakes! Yesterday and the day before Hitachi was subject to three little earthquakes, though the last one was by far the strongest I've felt since I've come to Japan. I've experienced about 7 earthquakes, that I remember, though my students have claimed to feel some that I haven't.

Earthquakes are different in Japan than in California. Japanese earthquakes are slightly more gentle, with a side-to-side motion rather than an up-down motion. Of course, this is being 'gentle' on a geolithic scale, so they can still feel pretty violent. No worries, though; all the ones I've been through have been quite calm.

So, yesterday was Saturday, the day of Doom. I'll tell you about them, now.

Saturdays are the busy day. The final push. They're for all the people that don't have time during the working week to come in to class. People who miss classes during the week can usually make them up on Saturdays, too. What results is an early, super-busy day. I had 7 classes yesterday, starting at 10 AM. Remember how I normally get into work between 11:30 and 12:30? Yeah, not on Saturday.

My day starts off with 4 classes in a row. Then I get an hour break. Then another two classes back-to-back, and finally my last class. Everything ends at 7, at which point we do our cleaning and prep-for-tomorrow stuff again, and then dash off to enjoy Saturday night. My weekends are Sunday/Monday, but my weekend truly begins after work on Saturday. Imagine the excitement of both Friday and Saturday night, crammed into one.

What do I do on my weekends? I'm glad you asked! Saturday night is usually spent at the local gyoza bar, G-Bros. Gyoza are Japanese dumplings; filled with any number of delicious meats and/or veggies, they can be steamed, boiled, grilled, or fried. G-Bros. is run by two brothers, Hiro and Tomo, who are both bikers. Hiro speaks pretty good English, and Tomo is learning thanks in part to the number of foreigners that hang out there. It's our go-to spot, our fall back. It's the place all we foreigners know and love and can meet at, come rain or shine. The hosts are friendly and welcoming.

It took me a few weeks to haul my butt down to G-Bros., mostly due to exhaustion. But once I had recuperated from my lessons, I took a trip with M-sensei there, and was blown away. It was just so awesome. They have a great big plasma TV, usually tuned to an international MTV-like channel with no VJs, just music videos. You can order all sorts of American, European, and Japanese beverages. I've embraced Japanese beer (a variety of alcohol I thought I would never like) and I've even come to like Guinness. They serve a mean caesar salad (my usual dish) but the gyoza is what I really love.

I have many favorites. Chicken and onion is tasty. Super garlic is amazing. Pork and kim-chee is rapidly becoming my favorite. But the king that sits upon the throne has to be their Apple Pie Gyoza. I swear to God. They stuff little gyoza skins with home-made apple pie filling, fry them so the skins become like pie crust, then serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, a spoonful of whipped cream, a side of apple goo, and the whole thing is sprinkled with cinnamon. Indescribable in its deliciousness.

The gang I hang with is a diverse group. K is sort of the leader, having been here nearly the longest. He's from Manchester, UK, and works for an English school called Geos. Dan, an ex-restaurant owner-now-surfer is from Australia, also in Geos. Clive, who got to Hitachi my third week here, is from South London, and works at Nova. There's Pura and Gina, Nova teacher roomies from the States (Florida and somewhere else, I think). Ginie and Claire, also Nova teacher roomies (from somewhere and Glasgow, Scottland). Claire is almost the newest teacher, just barely being beaten by Clive's new roomie Matt, from Canada (also a Nova teacher). And, of course, M-sensei, my co worker, from Detroit, then Arizona, and finally Seattle.

After we have a grand old time drinking and talking and relaxing, I usually head home around 1 or 2 AM. Some nights we've done things as a group. We played Capture the Flag when E.J. was here one Saturday night. Last night the gang went to Mito to go clubbing, but I had other plans, plus a burning need to actually get 8 hours of sleep. I relaxed at home by myself for the first time in nearly a month last night, and I feel about 10 times better for it.

It's 11:30 AM now, and I want to get out of the apartment. There's a martial arts gym to the north of town that I want to check out, and I'm feeling up and at-em for a good bike ride. I am a bit hungry, though, so I'll probably grab a small breakfast at a convenience store (shortened to conbini in Japanese slang).

I've gotten to missing a lot of my old life. Nothing too weepy or soul-crushing, but I'll remember something I used to do and miss it a little, from time to time. I wish I could find some good crafting materials, just to keep my skills up. What I wouldn't give for my craft boxes; my yards of leather and nylon line, my beads and trinkets and clasps.

And now, an Old Journal post! Amazing!

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[Original day written: Tuesday, February 27th 2007 at 11:50AM]


J5.0
Miyagi-taicho (taicho = captain/boss) is here. The president of my company, the founder. On the rare occasion that I would see a Japanese business man in Atlanta, I would always get an odd vibe from them. One almost of serenity, of inscrutability. I guess that's a cultural aspect the Japanese have cultivated through the ages, because I certainly feel that now. Miyagi-taicho is very...present. When he's in the room all eyes fall to him. He gave a speech about our duties as teachers and what was important in our jobs. Mostly a lot of boring corp-speak, but some of it was interesting. Especially the time when he demonstrated his chi flow.

Chi (pronounced "ki" or "key") is an Asian metaphysical concept, namely that within us flows energy that can be manipulated. It can influence our mood, and vice versa. Crazy martial artists claim they can leap tall buildings and punch through walls using chi, but mostly the theories and practices are about mental and physical balance and health. Miyagi-taicho demonstrated how his chi flow changed his body, and he claimed, both his attitude and the attitude of anyone he was teaching. It was...different. He would say a phrase that was either negative or positive, and then have one of the trainees push him. If he said something negative ("I hate you.") his body became easy to push. If he said something positive ("I love you.") his body became resilient and immobile. The trainee who pushed him swore he didn't feel Miyagi-taicho's body change in any way during the demonstration.

Spoooooooooooky.

I teach tonight...

J5.1
My first teaching assignment is a success! I instructed 5 Japanese women through a basic lesson. I was amazed that they were actually learning what I taught them, even though I only had them for less than an hour. Amazing!

[EDITOR: I'm putting a few days in this post 'cause these entries were a little small. Training was kind of boring....until the last weekend ;) MORE FORESHADOWING!]

[Original day written: Wednesday, February 28th 2007 at 12:00AM]

J6.0
Went to McDonald's for the first time in Japan. Had a Whopper. Same as an American Whopper. Tried to get online, but the wireless...didn't work. Or something; the staff wasn't able to help me. Jeff tried the MegaMac, a burger that is literally two Whoppers stacked on top of one another:



Later, we went to a Japanese Starbucks and had coffee (I had hot chocolate) while we did our homework. We all got back at different times. I had some free time, so I finished reading Perdido Street Station. [EDITOR: I'll have a book review on this sometime in the future.]

[Original day written: Thursday, March 1st 2007]

J7.0
[EDITOR: This entry was just lots of training notes. I hadn't settled on a format that I liked for my entries, yet. Included for temporal consistency.]


[Original day written: Friday, March 2nd 2007]

J8.0
Today is my final day in training. It's the ultimate test: I will teach a full lesson to actual students. I've studied, I've memorized, I've tried to do my best to remember everything I've been taught this past week. I think I'm ready. I just need to remember to go with the flow and just teach. It's not hard.

J8.1
Success! My lesson is taught! I totally kicked butt! It was an intermediate level lesson about food. I followed the steps and tried to remember to smile. The students had a great time, and they learned something, too. I feel great!

The other trainees want to go out to Roppongi. Roppongi is the night club area of Tokyo. I'm not one for clubbing, and both Brain and Tara gagged when I mentioned the name; neither of them like it very much. I've been thinking of getting in touch with Tom Culpepper and hanging out with him for a while.

J8.2
They're gone to parts unknown. Time to make calls!

J8.3
This is taking a while...

J8.4
Plans are made! I grab a taxi to the train station! I barely make my train! I take it to the middle of no where and wait for a bus! The bus takes me further out into nowhere, perhaps on the other side of it! I get off at the place I was instructed, and wait in the cold for Tom. He says he's walking to me. 45 minutes later I see him, decked out in his aloha shirt and leather jacket and khakis and hat, like I'd seen him the day he left (minus the jacket).

[EDITOR: This is from the next day, but I like the shot and it's essentially what he was wearing. Plus is was cold.]

We hiked back to his place, grabbing some dinner for me at the nearby (and I use the term loosely) conbini. I chowed down and we hit the hay. Tomorrow we will take a tour of Ota, the town where Tom has lived for the past year, and then go into Tokyo to see Harajuku.

Yesterday~

J72 Thursday, March 24th 2007

Thursdays are always a little tough. I usually don't have as much prep time as I normally do, thanks to a weekly meeting, and this morning I found myself getting in a tad later than I would have liked.

Nothing big to report, aside from the fact that two of my students had their last classes today. Both of them, Hiro-kun and Mo-chan, are amazing students. Mo-chan is in her last year of high school, and as such is starting to study in earnest for her college entrance exams. She won't have time enough for AEON and school. Hiro-kun is in a similar situation, only he has to study for tests that will let him become a Master's student at his university.

Both of them have good reasons, and I gave them nothing but encouraging words, but I was still a little sad to see them leave. Mo-chan even gave me a little goodbye card. It was terribly sweet.

Early morning tomorrow [EDITOR: So why are you still up, dingus?] at the university, handing out fliers and yelling at college students. Yay!

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[Original day written: Sunday, February 25th 2007 at 8:00AM]


J3.0
I'm in the Omiya train station (Omiya being the small city where the seminar house is). I walked from the seminar house to the station, taking lots of photos along the way. Snagged some LURVLY warm gloves, so now my hands are nice and toasty.


I'm at the Starbucks above the station, people watching and reading Perdido Street Station. What an amazing book! I read China Mieville's first novel, King Rat, in my Postmodernism class at GT. It was okay, but didn't find it jaw-dropping. Lisa and J.D. made mutterings that it was the best thing to happen to fiction since Scott Lynch and George R.R. Martin, but they were right twice, and thus I had to wait until I left the country before I started reading them ;)

I'm full of anpan [EDITOR: Red bean paste filled bread. Find some and eat it immediately, for it is delicious] and hot chocolate, waiting on Brain and Tara to appear from below, where the gates of the train station are in a constant state of flux. In and out, at all times, people are flowing from the turnstiles. I'm writing in this journal, which I just love to death. It's a grid-lined Moleskine that I bought at a Boarders in Atlanta for about $10. I wish I got a better pen, as the one I have now bleeds like a stuck pig, but it does alright for scratching down little notes. I'll make these better once I get the internet [EDITOR: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA GET THE INTERNET WHAT A JOKE].

There is so much art here: abstract designs and architecture is varied and constant. Tiles are laid everywhere. Everywhere there are signs of age. Some designs look to have been laid down yesterday, and not a dozen yards away is a building or a wall that dates back to the War.

J3.1
This Starbucks has played only American music. Sinatra and other 40s/50s stuff.

Every other group of young people could be a rock band. Style is EVERYTHING to the people I see. Hair in a variety of colors and styles, clothes with words, images, screens, and prints. Chains, zippers, leather, canvas, denim, laces. Everything is used, everything different.

Wish I had a "Bring Brack Brain" shirt. I wish I had another shirt, period. I've only got a grey sleeping shirt (not at all suitable for wear outside of the room) and a blue button-up short-sleeved shirt. I do laundry every day, sometimes twice a day, just to be sure I have enough clean stuff to wear. I have this Survivor/Curusoe thing going on, so that's one good thing I've got going for me.

Oh, hey, Brain!


And Tara!



J3.2
Oh, God, I am so tired. I'm at a restaurant in Harajuku [EDITOR: Cooler than you think, despite Gwen Steffani's best efforts] called the Elephant Cafe. I've been out with Brain and Tara ALL day. We ate lunch at a Hard Rock Cafe, after which we went to Akihabara [EDITOR: The first trip there of many!]. We trundled up and down the main street, going into and out of a dozen massive media stores. Every possible form of media you can think of. Books, movies, music, DVDs (T.V. shows, anime, etc.)

Tara bought a bunch of stuff (it was apparently payday yesterday for her), but I held back. I don't have a lot of money with me, so I'm waiting for my own payday and the Internet to satisfy my anime cravings [EDITOR: AHAHAHA AGAIN?] We went to Harajuku around 6 PM, where I bought a nifty scarf. It was getting a little colder, but thanks to my awesome flannel scarf my neck and face are as toasty as my gloves.

We waited for a long time for a table here at the Elephant Cafe, and even longer for service. I just want to sleep, I am so very, very tired. The other people at the table are other AEON teachers, foreigners, and.....I can't remember to write, I'm so tired. Oh, joy, we just ordered drinks.

J3.3
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Time to start posting again! Woo!

J71 Thursday, May 24th 2007

A few rules, now that life has settled somewhat:

I can't post personal information about my students or my coworkers. The contract I signed forbids it. So, I'll just be using nicknames and initials. Don't worry, there will be plenty of consistency, but I do apologize.

That being said, let's begin.

K-sensei is finally back! She's been on extended leave for a stay in the hospital. She went in the last day of Golden Week, had a procedure done, and only just now came back, nearly 3 weeks later. She's lost some weight, which is impressive because she was skinny to begin with. That combined with a new haircut made her return today a little interesting. She seems to be very energetic, though, which is good. I was beginning to miss her cheery disposition.

Speaking of weight loss, she commented that I appeared to have lost weight, as well. I must say that I agree with her. Monday, when E.J. and I went to Tokyo and met up with Tom and Brain, Tom commented on the same thing. It had only been 2 weeks since I had seen him, which really kind of shocked me. But every morning I look in the mirror and I can't help but think I'm slowly slimming. I didn't realize just how big I had gotten back in the States, but now that I think back on it I was leading an alarmingly sedentary lifestyle, filled with unhealthy food. I'm going to start biking in the morning, which will both let me explore Hitachi some more and lose even more weight. Go slimness!

I had another evaluation today, as my follow up training is this weekend, and I did much better than last time. Though she had to go home right after she observed my lesson, K-sensei said I did great. Coming from her, that was a really big complement.

Aside from that, nothing much today.

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[Original day written: Thursday, February 24th 2007 at 8:30AM]


J2.0

My first morning in Japan. Mike, the New Yorker-via-Hawaii, is my roommate, and he's a decent fellow. We're in a small room, maybe the size of a modest single bedroom in an apartment. Two short beds, a long desk, a small rack for hanging clothes, two closets, and a bath suite (toilet, tub, shower, and sink) are all crammed into a space that is maybe 15 feet by 10. Maybe. The bath unit is amazing. One faucet services both the sink and the tub, with a flexible metal tube transmitting water for bathing.

Mike and I walked to the nearby convenience store, Lawson's. Lawson's is a chain that is everywhere in Japan. They sell everything. Toilet products? Check. Food? Check. Snacks? Check. Drinks? Manga and magazines? DVD Rentals? More food? Booze? Check check check check check. Everything. They even sell clothes; button up shirts, underwear and socks, for the businessman who missed the last train. We snagged breakfast and walked back to the seminar house. Training starts at 9:30, goes 'till 6.

J2.1

Wherein I see just how many pictures this thing can hold.

Me in my suit. [EDITOR: This is the only suit I pulled from my stuff before I shipped it to Hitachi. It will be the only suitable garment I wear for the week I am here, aside from a single change of street clothes and a sleeping shirt.]

Crows. The crows here are the size of men. [EDITOR: Trust me. I've got a great picture with a size comparison. These things are massive.]

Holographic 500 yen coins. Neat!

Vending machine in the lobby. Delicious Coke!

J2.2
Are they all luddites? None of my fellow trainees know what a 'blog' is. Also, it is very windy here. [EDITOR: This is the understatement of the year. The wind actively hates you and wants you to die.]

J2.3
We went out on the town after training, eager to take in out new surroundings. I had my trusty leather jacket with me, but the cold bit right through to my painfully thin shirt. We went to a restaurant....Wabi Wabi, maybe? I can't remember. It was like a tapas place; lots of cheap, small dishes, which is a great way to sample Japanese cuisine. We sat down at a low Japanese-style table, after locking out shoes in little wooden boxes at the front door, and proceeded to dig in. Across from us were these dudes...these.....dudes....

So, they were having a great time. Eating, drinking, smoking, laughing and joking; these guys were out on the town and having a good time. One of them had a bottle of....something. I couldn't see it, but it was green. The bottle wasn't interesting, though. It cap was...or should I say caps. See, they obviously loved this brand of alcohol, because they had glued, taped, and stapled every cap from every bottle of it they had ever drunk into a Seussian tower that wobbled dangerously any time someone unscrewed it for a pull. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it was just so cool.

Eventually, one of them said hi in the little English he knew. We struck up a conversation, our table and theirs. One's nickname was Potato. Another was Dinosaur (he was loud and awesome). They asked us what we were doing, to which one of our number blurted "Greenpeace". They laughed and winked and got the idea that we didn't want our occupations known, for fear of discovery by our omnipotent superiors...well, some of my group didn't. I didn't think it mattered all that much that a group of fun-loving drunks knew we were English teachers, but I was the silent minority.

Potato regaled us with his love and respect for the West, saying he held in his heart both emotions for America and Canada, the lands of our group's births. The smokers of my training group marveled at the packs of Lucky Strikes our Oriental counterparts were enjoying. Lucky Strikes are not sold in America, and have become somewhat legendary there, or so I was led to believe. I find it hard to swallow that America has banned a cigarette brand that is sold elsewhere in the first world, but then again I'm not a smoker [EDITOR: Not yet! Haha, foreshadowing!]

Finally, we packed it in for the night. Tomorrow, Sunday the 25th, is to be our first off day. An entire day that I will spend checking out Japan. Plans are afoot to contact Brain and Tara and gallivant around the nation with them tomorrow. Moo hoo ha ha.

just a quickie

J59 Friday, May 11th 2007

EJ is here! He flew in Friday and arrived in Hitachi at around 9:50 PM. He and I took a leisurely stroll to Kumamoto Ramen and he enjoyed his first curry rice in Japan. We then stopped by Joycom, and to his delight they had the newest arcade version of Guilty Gear (Access Core) installed. He didn't get to play before we left, but it was for the best.

We kipped at my place Friday night.

Saturday I was up early. My classes begin at 1o AM on Saturdays. I left EJ to his own devices, much to my own dismay; I really wanted to hang with him. I got into work on time and started teaching like a madman. Saturdays always go fast, because they're just nonstop. Toward the end of the day, I walk into the breakroom and I see my brother smiling back at me. He had wandered toward the station during his travels, and wanted to check in with me. I'll let him fill you all in on the details.

Today we watched a big band for the better half of the day, again I'll let him give you the details. We're cooking dinner, and I can hardly wait for everything to be done.

It begins in an airport, but then again what doesn't?

J57 Wednesday, May 9th 2007

Slowly getting back into the swing of things. Golden Week was last week, a blissful 9 days of no work and holiday, enjoying the laziness of the long Japanese day.

Today was not one of those days. It started off warm, the breeze generated by my bike ride to work barely kept me cook beneath my suit as I zipped down the hill to my school. It got hotter as I climbed the stairs; I could feel the temperature gradient.

Work was OK, though. A little hectic, but what else is new? At lunch I saw my first rude Japanese person. A woman in Lawson's, in front of me in the checkout line. Wearing a grey miniskirt suit that was just a bit too small for her. She yelled, loud, for the cashier to hurry up, for the people in front of her to move it. When she got to the counter she spent a solid 2 minutes looking for exact change, finally settling on an evenly-spread tray full of silver coins. Once the cashier finished getting her change, the woman again yelled, this time demanding her purchase be put into a bag. The cashier, serene as an Aes Sedai, complied.

The rude woman turned on her heel to storm out, making eye contact with me. I looked back, neutral. (I've been told by the Japanese staff that my neutral face is in fact, a terrifying visage of anger and hate to the Japanese eye. I am instructed to smile at all times, lest I frighten students. The preceeding two statements are in no way lies or elaborations on the truth) She glowers at me, but I feel my Gaijin Field deflect the daggers harmlessly. As she stomps her way to the exit she tries to lock eyes again, but I merely direct my attention to the cashier. I have begun to perfect the Japanese detachment trance.

The rest of the day was without incident. A meeting was held after work to discuss some new materials. I'm at home now, writing what will be the first of many posts to this blog. Yay! I like the split format idea; as JD commented earlier it will allow me to catch up while still keeping everyone up to date. In a way, it's like writing a 2.5 month-long flashback. Some of the things you just read probably didn't make sense, but that's okay. All will become clear, gentle reader.

EJ is coming to Japan soon. He'll be flying out in about 36 hours, give or take. I need to get to sleep.

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[Original day written: Thursday, February 22nd 2007 at Unknown Time]

J1.0

I'm ready. I am not ready. I've spent the last two weeks packing and saying goodbye, but I've been preparing for this for a lot longer. I'm in Detroit now, having said goodbye to Ann and EJ and Mom at Hartsfield a little less than 3 hours ago. I miss them already.

The terminal here in Detroit is actually nice. I should have called Sabrina, maybe she could have dropped by. But, then again, she couldn't get in to this part of the airport, and there's no way I'm leaving the terminal just before I get on an international flight. Security would shove dogs into my butt and call it freedom. The tram for this section of terminal runs through the damn thing, with only a solid 20 feet of vertical space separating the tracks from pedestrians; no guard rails or anything. It's a very different sight, almost like something out of a painting.

The tunnel from my exit terminal from Atlanta to my current resting place was this freaky multi-colored mushroom tunnel. Took a few shots, but I don't know how they'll turn out.

Waiting now. Don't want to use any gizmos or anything; must conserve battery power at all costs.

J1.1

This plane is frigging huge. It's a double-decker monster, easily the biggest plane I have ever been on. And there are so many people; it's like that scene in Titanic where everyone gets up to wave goodbye. Ten seats to a row, broken up into three sub-rows (a column 3 seats thick on either side of the plane and a middle column of 4 seats). I'm surrounded by so many ethnicities and ages. I swim in a sea of language and sensation; smells and tastes from a half-dozen cultures pepper the air and children whisper in their mother tongues, equally diverse. I settle down into my seat, next to two Chinese girls. They look to be members of the same school, or athletic team. I can't tell which. After a few minutes they scamper off to sit with the rest of their group, granting me a blissful measure of space next to me. Now all I can do is wait...again.

J1.2

A quarter of the way into the flight I break out my pre-training study materials. I was supposed to read them months ago. Hooray procrastination! Let's see...standard stuff.....oooo.....they want me to be good at grammar. Suck. I know enough as the next guy, maybe a little more, but ask me for a technical explanation and I'm not much use. Still, no worries; I can wing it. I get little waves of panic and homesickness as I read, seeing in black ink on white and blue paper how my life has been mapped out for the next year. I'm not going to be watched at every move, but my company will, essentially, own me. My contract prohibits me from posting the details, but it's rather impressive.

J1.3

They keep us well watered and fed, thank God. My shoulder is killing me. I keep trying to stretch it out, but no use. I try to sleep, manage to nod off for a little while, but I've never had much success sleeping during mass transit rides.

J1.4

Touchdown in Japan! The last leg of the journey seemed to get exponentially longer, but we finally got here. About time. It's raining outside, and there's this....feeling in the air. I'm not in America anymore. I follow the flow of people out through customs, get stamped and processed quickly, and manage to get my luggage. For the record, I'm coming here with:

My NERV duffel bag, full of clothes, electronic accessories (chargers, etc), books, and toiletries
My big honking suitcase, full of suits and clothes and toiletries
My laptop case, filled with my laptop.
A big frigging cardboard box that contains the last of my clothes.

I pile it all onto a cart and make my way past the final security dude into the main body of Tokyo-Narita International Airport. I have truly arrived at Japan. After a few minutes I am flagged down by a staff member of my company, who directs me to a small waiting area where a few of my other trainees are waiting. They've all arrived in the past 6 hours or so. We chat. One is from Hawaii, born in Brooklyn. His accent is awesome. The other is from L.A. and S.F. The third is from Vancouver. The fifth member of our group is already at the training house, having been here for a few months already.

I transfer a few clothes, mostly a complete suit and a few toiletries, to my duffel, as only it and my laptop case will be coming with me. The suitcase and box will be shipped from the airport to my school, who will hold it 'till I get there in about 9 days. I find a few spare seconds to buy a phone card and call home, letting Mom know that I'm alive and okay and getting ready to go to the seminar house. It's the last time I'll talk to anyone from home for nearly 3 weeks.

What follows is a whirlwind of train stations and exchanges. The staffer buys tickets, we all go through the turnstiles (wherein you must grab your ticket, lest you be unable to exit the turnstile of whatever station you get off at) and run for crowded trains. Japan has absorbed us effortlessly, despite our foreign origins. It has placidly opened its mouth and we have leaped in, being swallowed by the sleepless clockwork beast that is Tokyo.

We make our way out, past the suburbs. In a startlingly short amount of time we are surrounded by the countryside of Japan. For those of you who don't know, it is beautiful. Farmer's fields crisscrossed by rough grids of semipaved roads. Flatlands broken by bold, sudden hills and miniature mountains. Houses strapped together with old plywood and bamboo; crumbling edifices next to modern concrete and aluminum siding. No space is wasted, even out here. All things are used to their maximum effect. I marvel at massive windmills that stand at attention, marching across the plain I find myself flying through.

I hardly remember the journey. Talking about our lives back in America and Canada. Asking about what to expect or what to do. I get answers, but I don't quite know how to process them.

"How do I get on the Internet," I ask eagerly.

"Oh, it's easy," our handler says. "Just narfle the garthok."

He says something, something that almost sounds normal. A series of steps, a plan, but they are so convoluted and alien that I cannot make heads or tails. I write them down anyway, my simplified understanding of the true steps almost laughable.

Eventually, we arrive at our destination. Omika. The kanji are the characters for "Big Temple". We pile into taxi cabs (more on those later, I promise) and are whisked away. They take us to the seminar house, a simple 2-story building, white. Looks like it's tiled on the outside at first. They give us a tour. I cannot tell you how exhausted I am. I am beyond tired. My body is beyond ache. I just want to lay down. Even now, as I type this, I feel the phantom pain of cramps and muscles worked beyond their normal means.

Finally, finally, our handler lets us sleep. We've filled out a little paperwork, done some things that even then I couldn't remember. Finally, I deposit my bags in my room, crawl into bed, and let sleep crush the exhaustion from my bones.